Everything posted by Loss
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[1999-03-22-WWF-Raw] Steve Austin vs Big Show
Last few minutes. Mankind is the ref. Rock is on commentary. The finish cements Big Show as just another guy, as he had no business losing to Austin this early in his WWF run. Vince apparently used to call Dave Meltzer to laugh at how WCW used The Giant, claiming they had no clue what to do with him, only for him to do a far worse job using him than WCW did. Austin hits Show with a series of chairshots then gets a stunner for the three count.
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[1999-03-22-WWF-Raw] HHH and Kane
Another disguise angle, as HHH is dressed as Goldust and uses it as an opportunity to blast a fireball at an unsuspecting Kane. Good stuff to build up their Wrestlemania match.
- [1999-03-22-WWF-Raw] Jim Ross Frat Party
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Crowd Chants
Vince apparently made that list himself.
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Crowd Chants
My point in mentioning Undertaker was that he is beyond criticism in any WWE or WWE-associated media. Shawn is openly described as a jerk in his worst years. Bret is presented as wrong for Montreal. Storylines have played off of HHH's selfish reputation. WWF stalwarts like Hogan are still acknowledged for going too far with the NWO. Austin took his ball and went home. But Undertaker is the unquestioned professional and perfect locker room leader who is an amazing example to everyone around him. They don't market him as the greatest of all time so much though, I guess.
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Crowd Chants
Well, it's not like The Undertaker was worlds better than Sting (at least until the last few years of big Mania matches), and Undertaker has always sort of been above criticism in a lot of ways.
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Crowd Chants
I suspect we'd hear them if WCW won the war.
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Was the Invasion always destined to fail?
No. But if you think back to what the norms of wrestling were in 2001, why wouldn't the average fan think more WCW stars were on the way to the WWF?
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Crowd Chants
These things absolutely play a role. People will laugh that this is coming from me, but Ric Flair started getting called the best of all time as early as 1988 and that stuck with people. It's not the only reason people consider him at that level, but the number of world titles and marketing of that role is absolutely part of what many people consider, whether they realize it or not. It's not a criticism of WWE business practices to say it. Parv's point is that without WWE doing that, he's skeptical that anyone would think that. There's no way to prove that's true or not true definitively, but it's a valid opinion.
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[1999-03-22-WWF-Raw] Vince McMahon, Steve Austin, The Rock and Mankind
This crowd is rocking. Shane challenges X-Pac to a Greenwich Street Fight that evening on RAW. Vince suspects that Austin and Undertaker are conspiring to ensure that he's not fully supporting Rock going into Wrestlemania, but Vince says no way is that happening. Rock taunts Austin when he's shown watching all of this via Titantron. Rock will be ref for Austin vs Big Show tonight. This brings Mankind out in his referee outfit to suggest he and Rock square off tonight with the winner becoming the special ref for Austin vs Show. Vince and Rock laugh off that idea, but Vince has a piece of paper from Shawn authorizing it. Rock: The Rock says you can kiss his ass. Mankind: But I gave that up for lent. Austin has words for Rock in the best promo so far hyping this show. The segment ends with the famous moment of Austin driving the beer truck to the ring and giving Vince, Shane and Rock a beer bath, with Vince selling it beautifully, even acting like he's trying to swim his way out of it.
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[1999-03-22-WCW-Nitro] Ric Flair vs Rey Misterio Jr
This is such an obvious attempt to bury both guys. Put Flair against a guy who is still making his name, let them both not draw a rating and then claim Flair as champ isn’t working (even though the previous week when he was in with other big names did very well). That out of the way, this is the only time this match has ever happened and it had its moments. Flair tries to work him like he’s Ricky Morton. This isn’t as good as I remembered, but Flair-Rey has never happened any other time and you get to see what they do against each other for better or worse. Plus Flair ends up in the pool!
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[1999-03-22-WCW-Nitro] Interview: Bret Hart
Bret Hart fake shoots on Kevin Nash's bad booking and his lack of opportunities in WCW. He challenges Goldberg to a match the following week. Here is the hilarious article where Bret tried to make sense of this storyline in the Calgary Sun. http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingBretHart9799/hart_99mar20.html
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[1999-03-22-WCW-Nitro] Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Miss Nitro
Rikki Rachtman is now on Nitro every week with DJ Ran. He runs a Miss Nitro competition which is a showcase for Torrie Wilson. Nash staves off a "Show your tits" chant with "I would but it's cold" in one of my favorite moments of the year. He also says "Eat your heart out, Sable" as the segment comes to a close. Hogan and Nash seem to be best friends at this point.
- 5 replies
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- WCW
- Monday Nitro
- March 22
- 1999
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+3 more
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[1999-03-22-RINGS] Kiyoshi Tamura vs Hiromitsu Kanehara
Kanehara just isn’t as technically proficient as Tamura, Kohsaka or the Russians. This was a very good match because of the great technique we see from Tamura, but the match would have been put over the top if he was facing a more game opponent. Kanehara is good, but he is good in more of a UWFI way than a RINGS way.
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[1999-03-22-NJPW-Hyper Battle] Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka
Title change and a very good, short stretch of action from TV.
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[1999-03-21-ECW-Living Dangerously] Sabu vs Taz
Last few minutes of a match that I think had run its course after their 1997 feud played out. Taz wins handily after choking Sabu out with the Tazmission.
- 5 replies
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- ECW
- Living Dangerously
- March 21
- 1999
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+3 more
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[1999-03-21-ECW-Living Dangerously] Rob Van Dam vs Jerry Lynn
I know this is their signature match and it's a style people either like or don't, but I thought this was pretty bad wrestling overall. I thought they did an okay job of pacing the moves and building to the big moments, and the highspots weren't even bad on their own. But the in-between transitions are either so lacking or so bad that they make even the good moments look sloppier than they are. I'm referring to the way they do fundamentals like punches and kicks, the way they run the ropes, the selling ... that sort of thing. It's like two guys running a marathon who never learned to walk. There are things they can do that no one else can do or is even trying to do, and the uniqueness is probably more important than the match being well-worked. But it's not well-worked. And there's a lot of move repeating - if a tornado DDT on a table on the floor doesn't work, why would a tornado DDT in the ring work? There's not enough rhyme or reason to stuff.
- [1999-03-21-ECW-Living Dangerously] Interview: Taz
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[1999-03-20-WCW-Worldwide] Raven vs Kaz Hayashi
Hayashi risks his life for our entertainment, taking an unprotected flat back bump when Raven ducked a somersault plancha attempt to the floor, and also going face first into a chair wedged between the top two turnbuckles. He makes a comeback by splashing Raven from the top with a chair on him and this is way better than expected. This was short and lots of fun.
- [1999-03-20-ECW-TV] Sabu & Rob Van Dam vs Dudley Boys vs Shane Douglas & Tommy Dreamer
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Was the Invasion always destined to fail?
I would agree that Sting and Goldberg were the big picks, with Flair also being at that level as WCW's Babe Ruth. They had tons of angle options bringing in Bischoff but they never really used him to his full potential when he finally signed anyway. Of course, the same is true for Goldberg. Also, I've always suspected that the massive buyrate was because people were expecting surprise WCW debuts on the pay-per-view.
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[1999-03-20-MPPW-TV] Interview: Stacy
Stacy claims that she is the one who called the Fabulous Ones. She says she can make it on her own and doesn't need Lawler. They run a picture of her with Hugh Hefner at Playboy Mansion. She will be managing the Fabs and is switching sides. This brings Lawler out, who wants to talk, but she just walks off.
- [1999-03-20-MPPW-TV] Interview: Kurt Angle
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[1999-03-20-MPPW-TV] Jerry Lawler vs Sean Stasiak / Interview: Jerry Lawler (Loser Leaves Town)
Just the finish from the house show. After a distraction from Stacy, Lawler pins Stasiak, who has to leave Power Pro as a result. He's WWF bound. Back in the studio, Dave Brown reads a letter from The Fabulous Ones issuing a challenge to Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee to once and for all settle who the greatest tag team is in Memphis history. Then they want a video shown, and it's an early 80s video to "The Boys Are Back In Town". Not the best way to make them look contemporary, even though it's an excellent video. Lawler takes offense to the letter, saying it was he and Jerry Jarrett who put the Fabulous Ones together and made them successful and even points out that they walked out after a Louisville show when they got the biggest payoff in the history of the territory. Interesting. Lawler says to bring it on and that it's he and Dundee who are the best Memphis tag team ever.
- 5 replies
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- MPPW
- March 20
- 1999
- Jerry Lawler
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+2 more
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[1999-03-19-CMLL] El Hijo del Santo & Negro Casas vs Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr (Hair vs Mask)
Phenomenal entrances. Even better match, full of blood and great brawling. I can't get over how good Casas is as a babyface after seeing him as a bad guy for so many years. He wrestles like a lucha Choshu, making every bit of selling or offense big and dramatic. His facial expressions carry this, but the violence is off the charts too. Pretty classic both as a match and a moment, seeing two long-term rivals form a partnership like this, with each guy stepping up when the other couldn't and ensuring that they could keep their mask and hair. As good as anything else this year, which is saying a lot.